Spinning-machine.



G. L. RICE.

SPINNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY27,1916.

Patented Feb. 20,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Inl/'ein T aLl? G. L. RICE.

SPINNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION man MAY 27. 1916.

Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

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G. L. RICE.

SPINNING IVIACHINE.

APPLICATIoN man MAY21, 1916.

Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.A

I I I D STATES PATENT GEORGE L. RICE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER l COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF JERSEY. M

SPINNING-MACHINE. i

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

Continuation of application Serial No. 84%,/783, led .Tune 12, 1914. Abandoned May 31, 1916. This application filed May 27, 1916. Serial No. 100,288.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. RICE, a citizen \of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spinning-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to spinning machines.

Heretofore in the manufacture of twine two systems have been employed. One of these systems makes use 0f the roving gill spinner, which has been used for the spinning of soft and short bers for commercial yarn. The other system makes use of the ordinary spinning jenny, which is in general use forspinning hard, coarse fibers into a single strand yarn, such as binder twine. By means ofthe first system an even twine is spun, but it is left in a rough, unfinished condition. By means of the other system a glossy finish is given to the twine, but the twine is not evenly spun. Thus far no spinning machine has been made which is capable of producing a firm, even twine throughout its length, and at the same time giving such twine a smooth finish.

It, therefore, is the main object of my invention to produce twine which, when'spun, is even throughout its length, and at the same time has a smooth, hard, glossy finish'.

Another object is to provide a spinning machine having coperating members for producing twine adapted to meet all of the commercial requirements.

These objects are accomplished by providing in a spinning machine the combination of a nipper, means for positively feeding to the 'nipper al sliver of fiber of the proper size to produce twine of the. desired` tensile strength, and means for pulling the sliver through the nipper and twisting. it

, into twine after it passes through the niper. x

This invention is illustrated on the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation,

. parts being in section, of a spinning niachine embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary planvview of the same spinning machine;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the machine, parts being shown in section, and showing more in detail the driving connections for the various parts of the machine; and

Fig 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of cooperating parts of my improved splnning machine for producing twine having the desired. qualities mentioned.

The various novel features of my invention willv be apparent from the description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

This spinning machine includes a main frame 10,` upon which is rotatably mounted the usual flier head 11, to which the `capstan gitudinally thereof for reasons to be considered later. These rollers 22 and 23 are actuated from any suitable source including a driving shaft 25, having associated therewith a change speed gearing including a plurality of graduated gears 26 adapted to be engaged by a sliding gear 27 mounted 0n and keyed to a shaft 28, to which 1s operatively connected a suitably supported sprocket wheel 29. A chain 30 passes around this sprocket wheel andv drives another Sprocket wheel 31 mounted upon a shaft 32. Upon one end of the shaft 32 is a bevel gear 33.meshing with a bevel gear 34 mounted upon one end of shaft 21. It is seen, therefore, that the shaft 21 receives its mot1on through a system of transmitting members from shaft 25.,v The rotary movement transmittedhto shaft 21lcauses the roller 23 to be rotated. Also mounted on shaft 21 is a gear 21al which meshes with a gear 35 mounted i upon a stub shaft 36.A Gear 35 in turn mes-hes with a gear a secured to the shaft 20. The gears 21a, 35 and 20a beingof the same diameter, said rollers 22 and 23 are driven 'at the same speed. l

C .operating with and engaging both of the irollers 22 and 23 is a relatively large roller 37, preferably having a leather or other good frictional surfac38. This roller v37 is mounted upon a shaft 39l rotatable in bearing blocks 40, which are slidably mounted in'enlarged coperating portions 41 of a pair'of arms 42 pivotedto'upright supporting` members 43) by means'of, trunnions. 44. The arms 42'have portions 43a "which are pivot-ally connectedto la pair of' links 45, respectively', which -in-turn are vpivotallyl connected to a' pair of arms 4,6 loosely mounted upon -a shaft 47 mounted in the upper-ends of the support 43. These arms 46 have' projections 48 which are connected by a bridging member 49. Also loosely mounted-upon the shaft 47 is a member 50,

A. having la projection '51, through which passes an adjustable screw 52 which engages the bridgingmember 49. This member has a hook portion 53 which is connected by a link 54 to one end of a spring or resilient member 55., the other 'end of which.l spring is connected to a hook 56 secured to l al stationary portion of the machine. This spring` 55, through the various connectin members, yieldingly presses the roller 3% l into Contact with the smaller rollers 22 and 23. The pressure between the roller 37 land d nipper die is pressed t ward the lower nipper die by means of its own weight, which is increased bya weighted portion 59. Also suitably supported adjacent the delivery side of the nipper is a pair of separable smoothing dies 60, the upper die portion 6l being held against the lower by a weighted member l62, being pivotally mounted 'at 63 and, bearmg upon a forkl member 64, which is secured to the upper portion 6l of this pair of 'smoothing dies. l Y

o Adjacent the rollers 22 and 37 isa drawing chain. 66, having the usual needles 67, the chains being actuated. by a sprocket wheel 68 mounted upon a shaft 69, upon .y which is mounted a` gear 70, which meshes naines? with a pinion 7l .adjustably mounted in a pivotally mounted bracket 72. Rotating with the pinion 7l is a larger gear 7 3, which is in mesh with a pinion 74 mounted upon one end of shaft 21. By means of the transmission connections between the shafts 2l and 69, including the reducing gears, the

chain 66 is given a relatively slow movement. l

`Secured to a suitable support 80 is a bar 81, upon which is pivotallyvmounted at 82 a bar w83, the downward movement of which is limited by a projection 8la on the bar 81. Resting against the bar 83 is the upper end of a guiding conductor 84, having sides 85 anda top 86l forming guiding portions for guiding the liber passing from the chain 66 and directly between the drawing rollers 22, 23 and 37. The side portions 85 of the 'guiding conductor 84 are provided with arcuate portions 85a which ,rest and ride upon smooth portions of the roller 22. The upper end of the conductor may be adjusted by a screw 83a passing through the bar 83. Tn passing from the chain 66 the 'strands of ber are properly guided, by meansl ofa conductor 84, between the rollers 22 and 37, so that none of the ber will be dedected from the proper direction of movement. There is a distinct advantage in having the two rollers 22 and 23 to coperate with the roller 37 instead of having just one. This advantage consists in maintaining contact of at least one of the smaller rollers 22 and 23 with the roller 37 at all times. For instance, if the fiber which is drawn between the rollers 22 and 37 is sucient to force the roller 37 an appreciable amount out of engagement with the roller 22, there will still be contactbetween the rollers 23 and 37, in this way insuring a proper drawing action from the.chain 66 and the proper feeding from the roller -23 to the nipper 58. The

same is true with. respect to rollers 22 and 37 if the rollers 23 and 37 are separated. By means of the movable bearing blocks 40, in which theshaft of lroller 37 is mounted, the roller 37 ,may be moved to assume a position in accordance with proper operating conditions. v v

lln spinning machines heretofore used the amount of fiber drawn from the chain into the nipper and smoothing dies was entirely controlled by the tension device or capstan pulleys, and the uniformity of twine depended very largely on the ease with .which the diderent fibers entered the nipper, there being nothing positive in the way of a uniform feed at that point. 'With such an arrangement it is` readily apparent that thel ber drawn from the chain may vary in i amount to a considerable extent. Any foreign substance might easilyclog the nipper and cause a temporary inte;irruption to the passage of the ber. With such a method of producing twine, the twine naturally is rendered more or less uneven, although presenting a comparatively smooth and hard urface after passing through the smoothing twine by positively drawing the/ber froml the chain, reducing it to the proper size to produce twine of a desired tensile strength, and positively feeding it as a sliver to the -nipper in a manner such that the evenness of the twine throughout its entire length is greatly improved. Thenipper pinches the sliver in order that such sliver may be twisted into twine by the action of the flier, and the nipper also prevents the twist from extending back to the drawing rollers. At this point it is to be noted that the flier head 11 is driven from the power shaft 25, which is the same source of power from which the drawing rollers and the chain 66 are driven. In other words, there is a definite relationship between the speed of the flier head 11 which places the twist in the twine, the capstan pulleys 12, which are carried by the flier head, and the drawing rollers which positively draw the sliver from the chain 66 and positively feed it to the nipper 58. In order to produce this desirable twine, the capstan pulleys 12 must positively pull the f sliver through the nipper and the twine away from they nipper at the same rate of speed as the sliver is fed to the nipper. It, therefore, is important that the driving relationship, or speed relationship, of the various parts in question sho d be denitely determined. To insure t e proper Arelative drawing of the fiber from the chain 66, feeding it tothe nipper,and the proper pulling of the sliver through the nipper by the capstan pulleys 12 as it is twisted into twine by the flier head 11, there is provided a change speed gear intermediate the drive shaft 25 and chain 30 for making the desired fine adjustments whereby delicate speed control is obtained.

In this twine spinning machine, therefore, there is provided a source of fiber supply, a nipper, drawing rollers for drawing fiber from the source of supply and reducing it to the proper size sliver to produce a twine of the proper tensile strength and for feeding the ber positively to the nipper, mechlTo overcome this undesirable uneven- Aness of twme, I have provided intermedlatey anism including means such as the capstan pulleys and flier head for pulling the sliver through the nipper and twisting it to form twine, means for adjusting lthe relative speeds of the parts in question, and smoothing dies on the delivery side of the nipper for smoothing and polishing the twine as it is being twisted.

By means of this machine, therefore, it is possible to produce a twine which not only presents a smooth, hard, glossy finish, but also twine which is more even throughout its entire length than heretofore has been the case. p

There may be various modifications in my invention other' than here particularly shown and described, and it is my intention 'to cover all such modifications which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

What I claim as new is:

, 1. In al twine spinning machine, the combination of a nipper, means for positively size to produce twine of the desired tensile strength, means for pulling said sliver through the nipper and twisting it into twine after it passes through the nipper, and smoothing dies on the delivery side of the nipper for smoothing and polishing the twine as it is being twisted.

2. In a twine spinning machine, the combination of a source of fiber supply, a nipper, means for drawing fiber from said source of supply and reducing it to the proper size sliver to produce twine of the desired tensile strength and for feeding the sliver positively to the nip-per, and means for pulling the sliver through the nipper and twisting it to form twine.

3. In a twine spinning machine, the combination of a nipper, means for positively feeding to said nipper at ay definite rate of speed a sliver of proper si-ze to produce twine of the desired tensile strength, and means for pulling the sliver through the nipper at substantially the same rate of speed as it is fed to the nipper and twisting it to form twine after it passes through the nipper. i

4. In a twine spinning machine, the combination of a nipper, means for positively feeding to said nipper at a definite rate of speed a sliver of proper size' to produce twine of the desired tensile strength, means for pulling the sliver through the nipper at substantially the same rate of speed as it is fed to the nipper and twisting it tofeeding to said nipper a sliver of yiloer of size sliver to produce a, twine of desired ten- A the proper size'to produce twine of a desired Sile strength and ofpositively feeding the tensile strength, and means for pulling the `sliver to the' nipperat a definite rate of sliver through the nipper and twisting it speed, `sind mea-ns for pulling the sliver v5 into twine after it passes through the nipthrough the nipper at substantially the same per. v v rate of speed as it is fed thereto and twistv 6. ln atwine spinning machine, the corning it to form twine. bination of e source of fiber supply, a. nipln testimony whereof laffix my signature., per7 meansfor drawing the fiber from the i f M 10 source of supply, reducing it to the proper GEORGE L. RllClE. 

